11 Replies - 2186 Views - Last Post: 05 March 2010 - 09:55 AM

My Bachelors Degree

I am very new to coding. I have been doing professional PC repair for years but only have two semesters of coding under my belt.

Currently my major is "Computer Science" which is a Bachelor of Science.
My school also offers a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Systems - Web Design Option.

I am thinking of changing my major to the web design for multiple reasons:
1- I will be done faster.
2- It is emphasizing on the field of study I want to get into.
3- I want to do web programming, C#, php etc (where a lot of money is, and where software is going... web)
4- I am worried that I am shortcoming myself, I want a good job, I want a career.
5- I feel that three levels of calculus and 3 levels of advanced physics will NOT help me in my career. The B.S. degree seems more science oriented that I want in my career path.
6- The B.S. emphasizes much less on coding and learning coding languages.

My questions are as follow:
1- Am I shortcoming myself if I change majors? Or are my feelings unfounded?
2- Should I spend the extra time and money (I am already 25) on getting the Computer Science degree which will not teach me as much programming.
3- I think saying "I have a bachelors in web programming" sounds pretty sweet. Do you agree? Do you think I will be able to land a killer job still?

My goal is to have a career and support my family while working in an industry that I am passionate about.

Can I please have some thoughts/insights/ideas on my situation. I know many of you are full time professional software developers. Please give your advise if you have some.

Replies To: My Bachelors Degree

Re: My Bachelors Degree

Posted 15 January 2010 - 12:44 AM

Really? Bachelor of Science didnt give you a signal that it might be more science related?

However, if you'd rather do Web Design then go for it. Id rather be happy then stuck at some mundane job that I didn't like doing. You could support your family doing both. I dont know where you're from but most jobs that I get emailed to me from like Monster or Dice are looking for people with a B.S. in Computer Science or related field. So Id look at the jobs available for each too and also include that as a factor in your decision.

Re: My Bachelors Degree

Posted 15 January 2010 - 01:51 AM

Sethro117, on 14 Jan, 2010 - 11:44 PM, said:

Really? Bachelor of Science didnt give you a signal that it might be more science related?

However, if you'd rather do Web Design then go for it. Id rather be happy then stuck at some mundane job that I didn't like doing. You could support your family doing both. I dont know where you're from but most jobs that I get emailed to me from like Monster or Dice are looking for people with a B.S. in Computer Science or related field. So Id look at the jobs available for each too and also include that as a factor in your decision.

That is a perfect suggestion. I will try Monster etc. THANK YOU.
I knew it was science related, I am just wanting to make sure that I am making the right decision.

EDIT: Yea going to keep it at Computer Science. All jobs are asking for it, or "equivalent" ... I guess I could do both

Re: My Bachelors Degree

Posted 15 January 2010 - 10:40 AM

I would go with the CS degree if you're going. That way you can expand your knowledge of programming far, and if you don't like a job you'll get after the degree you can change types of programming jobs later. You might be able to do that with the B.A. CS for Web design but that sounds to specific for me.

Re: My Bachelors Degree

Posted 16 January 2010 - 11:17 PM

Stick with CS. I to am new to programming but before I even signed up for school I looked at various areas across the United States and looked at what their degree requirements were. 70% of them were easily CS degrees and the other were typical IT jobs looking an Associates degree(which is fine).

Just be sure to learn web basics such as html,xhtml,css,etc...

It also wouldn't hurt to be well rounded in the Adobe Web Design Suite, I have recently been spending a lot of time with Adobe because it can be hard at times to find a good graphic designer locally or to do what YOUR looking for.

Hope everything works out for you. I'm sure whatever decision you make will be best for you.

Re: My Bachelors Degree

To be perfectly honest what you do in school will have much more importance on your first job than what your degree is in... if you have "computer" in the title it will probably work for HR people.

Whatever degree you get -- work on some projects!!!! Resumes are all about what you did last. Just "I was getting my degree" is non-sense to HR (translates to "unemployed") -- you and every other resume they get.

So work on some project so that you can say things like: "Participated in JQuery based web design project to make the CS departments website more interactive and improve usability."

See those HR people will see "JQuery experience" --- 500 time better than the title of your degree.

Experience is GOLD -- so work on projects. Take project classes (they are a pain because they use up so much time, but they are great for the resume) Keep notes (there WILL be questions about any projects you put on your resume -- my biggest regret was not having any notes on all the projects that I just took for granted in school).

Re: My Bachelors Degree

Posted 19 January 2010 - 01:16 AM

To quickly build on what NickDMax said, The whole value of school is not that it teaches you what you want to know- it doesn't work that way- it's that it puts you in a position to learn for yourself while at the same time making sure that you are learning and while giving you the resources you need.

The other thing that you need to be aware of is the fact that most universities have 'idiot degrees' for people who don't really care about studying but want a degree so they can ask their boss for more money when they eventually go work somewhere. The 'web design' degree is exactly one of these degrees (along with most business courses and virtually all liberal arts degrees). This means that the degree is of no real value, but you might get exposed to things that an employer will find useful and he will have less to teach you. Despite this, the university wants your money and so will sell you the degree over the course of several years.

If you want to be of value to your boss or be able to be your own boss, you need real skills. You aren't going to get real skills doing school projects in any case(edit: I guess some of this depends on the school, but it's unlikely that you'll get real skills in making useful programs from class projects unless you're not doing the assignment just for the class. Google started as a thesis at stanford- but they didn't just do it for the class) , but you're infinitely more likely to start your own fun projects as a computer science major than you are as a web design major.

Last but not least, if you're unmotivated, you might be studying this for the wrong reasons. If this is the case, you might want to reconsider your major and what you want to do with your life.

Re: My Bachelors Degree

Posted 22 February 2010 - 06:55 AM

Choscura, on 19 January 2010 - 12:16 AM, said:

To quickly build on what NickDMax said, The whole value of school is not that it teaches you what you want to know- it doesn't work that way- it's that it puts you in a position to learn for yourself while at the same time making sure that you are learning and while giving you the resources you need.

Exactly, You could learn most of this stuff on your own but the problem is, with most people anyway, they have no idea where to start. Colleges provide a structured curriculum that creates a knowledge base that you can build on yourself.

Quote

The other thing that you need to be aware of is the fact that most universities have 'idiot degrees' for people who don't really care about studying but want a degree so they can ask their boss for more money when they eventually go work somewhere. The 'web design' degree is exactly one of these degrees (along with most business courses and virtually all liberal arts degrees). This means that the degree is of no real value, but you might get exposed to things that an employer will find useful and he will have less to teach you. Despite this, the university wants your money and so will sell you the degree over the course of several years.

While I agree there are less useful degrees, most degrees offer something. Web Design is probably a useful degree IF you can get in the door in most IT shops. The problem is a KEY thing for IT depts is prior experience and it doesn't matter if it was plugging in monitors and keyboards, they just want you to have some basic experience.

I have seen people unable to find jobs after completing a web design degree however and I think a lot of that has to do with software like Dream weaver etc. that allows you to build most of that stuff without any programming knowledge.

However, better to do something your passionate about vs something you hate (as someone already said). Otherwise, What's the point?

Re: My Bachelors Degree

Posted 02 March 2010 - 08:43 PM

I would personally have stuck it out getting my CS degree, as that is what I have. It was definitely hard work, but the pay is definitely higher. If you like doing web design and making easy money, then I would go that route. However, I stuck it out and am a Network Engineer and it is very easy 2 me

Re: My Bachelors Degree

Posted 05 March 2010 - 09:55 AM

Everyone pretty much hit the nail on the head. I have a degree in CS, and depending one what my electives were, in regarding what I actually had experience with, I could essentially get into any IT field I wanted short of the engineering side. However, thats a different major all together. Just stay with CS, and switch your electives around to focus on web programming, will look much better.